Welcome! This forum has a treasure trove of great info – Scouters helping Scouters! Just a heads up, though - all content, information, and opinions shared on this forum are those of the author, not the BSA.
I use desktop Troopmaster, version 4.12f - the newest as far as I can tell. The old file the Court of Honor report used to generate was csv, and that uploaded to the old Internet Advancment with no trouble. New IA required a txt file instead. I was able to find another checkbox that gave me a .txt file. When I tried to upload that in New Internet Advancement, I got an error that my file must be in a “pipe delimited” format. I’ve never heard of this format before, and no one else seems to have posted about this problem. Excel can’t output it and a quick google search shows if I go through this and that and another thing maybe in 30 minutes I could create a file using | instead of commas. Why? Why make this so difficult? And does anybody know how to create the right output file using Troopmaster at this point? I’ve read lots of posts, but everyone seems to be using TM Web or having different problems than this.
I had reached out to Troopmaster several times in the past year, and I couldn’t believe they didn’t tell me we needed to UPGRADE in order to get the correct report. We couldn’t just download the Troopmaster 2018 or Web 2.0 - they didn’t work with our current license. They assured me the report would work before we renewed last year, but now we are facing having to pay for an upgrade. In general I love TM, but their communication about this change was very poor. We are now on a free trial of the upgrade so we can get our data out of Troopmaster, and we’ll see if we stick with them or not.
I have a similar IA issue…no problem creating the pipe delimited file…but IA will not allow, It keeps asking for a pipe delimited in the error. Is there NO ONE we can call for help with this???
Not from the BSA side, no. If it’s a third-party output file, the likely response is going to be “ask your software vendor for support”. That said, I know a couple of issues that have come up in the past have resulted from opening the upload file prior to uploading it. Apparently some viewers aren’t just viewing the file, but modifying it.
If you’re creating the upload file from scratch, what I have heard through the grapevine is that the importer is sensitive to apparently “invisible” changes like conversion of two spaces to one and the like. That’s another reason to avoid opening upload files prior to uploading.
This file is the .csv we always pull from troopmaster. We then have to convert it to pipe delimited .txt for IA…don’t even get me started on how archaic this whole thing is. Most stressful and unsupported volunteer position I have ever held…but I digress…
Conversion is acheived using Excel’s onboard export functionality. Not hand created.
Please do NOT push me off to another vendor. This is an error with IA - NOT Troopmaster. IA is specifically rejecting the exact file type it is asking for.
There is nothing we can do to help with this. Troopmaster provides support for their export file. The BSA does not provide this support. If there is an issue with Internet Advancement and the Troopmaster produced TXT file, the Troopmaster staff will need to contact the BSA.
I don’t think you are reading my comment…IA asks for a pipe delimted .txt file. I upload a pipe delimited . txt file. IA then displays a error message saying I need to upload a pipe delimited file…this means IA is not reading this file as a pipe delimited…although EVERY other piece of software - from MS to TM to Wordpad is.
I am reading your post correctly. What I am telling you is the BSA has stated they provide NO end user support for the IA upload file. The ONLY support is via the vendor that produced the file, which in your case is Troopmaster.
You must contact Troopmaster for this issue.
I am sorry we can’t help, but this is what the BSA has stated is the support path for what you are trying to do.
This is not the correct path to get a file into Internet Advancement. It sounds like you are using an obsolete version of Troopmaster. Troopmaster has been updated to produce the correct txt file for Internet Advancement.
@JessicaMaleryn - what is your version of troopmaster ? The latest version is supposed to generate the correct txt file for upload without the need for manipulation which is what is corrupting yours.
We are pulling directly from the Troopmaster website - not an app.
And I don’t need a lecture - I need help. Not everyone has hours upon hours of free time to do these things, as volunteers - though I know many certainly do. I am not one - I now have exactly 5 more minutes to get this done since I have to take time out of my FT job to try to do this for the troop.
BSA’s Internet Advancement System is used by most councils and our Advancement/4403 Report in both TroopMaster and PackMaster will produce a file that is fully compatible with this interface.
To generate this file:
First, generate your advancement report using the program the same way you would if you were going to submit your 4403 report directly to the council office.TroopMaster: Run the Reports>Awards/Advancement>Court of Honor/4403 report.PackMaster: Run the Reports>Awards/Advancement>Pack/Den Awards Report/4403 report.
If you are using our desktop software, click the ‘Export to Internet Advancement 2.0’ button. If you are using our new TMWeb 2.0, click the Send To Council button and then click the link download the Scoutbook export file.
After you have generated the report and saved the export file, you are ready to upload and process this file through BSA’s Internet Advancement. The name of the file will be ‘import_yyyymmdd-hh-mm-ss.txt’ including the date and time the file was generated.
Once you have created this advancement file, processing the report using the Internet Advancement System is very easy.
Log into the Scoutbook system.
Click the blue ‘Import File’ option on the right.
Select the file you previously exported.
After the file has been uploaded, the processing will begin.
NOTE: If you have any specific questions regarding the internet advancement process for your unit, please contact your local council or visit the Scoutbook Help page for for more information.
